Cal Crutchlow became the first Briton to qualify on pole for a round of the
MotoGP World Championship in more than a decade as he claimed top spot for
the Dutch TT at Assen.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider has enjoyed an excellent season to date, with two podium finishes, and with a 1min 34.398 sec lap he beat off the Honda of Marc Marquez by three-tenths of a second.

The last British rider to take pole for a race in the top class was Jeremy McWilliams at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix.

Crutchlow said: “It feels fantastic to have finally got my first pole position in MotoGP. It might have been a different story if Jorge [Lorenzo] wasn’t injured, but you can only beat the guys on track and I did that today.

“It would have been good to have a dogfight for pole position with Jorge because it was obvious before his crash that he was going to be the man to beat. Hopefully at some stage this year I’ll be having a battle with him for the win.

“It is a great achievement for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team because it is not often a non-factory rider gets a pole position in MotoGP. The competition is incredibly tough but today we showed again that we can compete with the very best.”

Reigning world champion Lorenzo missed the session after breaking his collarbone in a practice crash on Thursday, while Marquez was hindered by the broken finger and toe he suffered in an accident yesterday morning. But the Honda rookie was still able to secure a front-row start, with Stefan Bradl doing a fine job to round out the top three on his LCR Honda.

Valentino Rossi was again fourth for the factory Yamaha squad, while championship leader Dani Pedrosa was fifth. The Spaniard had led the way halfway through the session, but he opted not to go out again after a crash as he attempted to improve his time.

Crutchlow’s team-mate Bradley Smith was an encouraging career-best sixth as he rides for the first time since undergoing surgery on injuries to his hand and wrist.

Aleix Espargaro’s superb weekend continued as he was the top CRT machine in sixth aboard his Aspar Aprilia, ahead of Alvaro Bautista, team-mate Randy de Puniet and Ducati’s Nicky Hayden.

The Ducati were enduring a miserable weekend, with Hayden’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso 15th.

Despite missing the session, Lorenzo is 12th on the grid thanks to his fast time in Thursday morning practice.

The Spaniard had been set to miss the rest of the weekend, but is due to fly back to Assen following surgery on his collarbone, meaning he could yet race if he is given medical clearance.